Proximity-based personnel safety system and method

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving first position data from at least one of a TOF sensor or a LIDAR. The first position data is representative of a position of a human within a hazardous environment. The method further includes receiving second position data associated with a plurality of wearable sensors associated with a plurality of personnel. The method further includes comparing the first position data to the second position data to identify a match between the first position data and the second position data. The method further includes sensing a signal to an alert device associated with the hazardous environment such that the alert device issues an alert in response to the first position data failings to match the second position data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/769,790 entitled “Proximity-Based Personnel Safety System andMethod”, filed Nov. 20, 2018, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of control systemsand methods, and in particular, to computer vision-based collisionavoidance control in drilling operations.

Oil and gas drilling operations have evolved over the years to includemultiple automated tool subsystems. Automated tool subsystems, machines,equipment, and the like, aid in executing repetitive tasks on the drillfloor including, for example, drilling, tripping, casing, and cementing.Tool automation optimizes the rate of penetration, makes hole qualitymore consistent, reduces operation time, improves overall drillingperformance, and reduces the cost of drilling operations. Moreimportantly, tool automation reduces the number of people required towork in and around the hazardous drill floor environment. Theoverwhelming majority of drilling operations are not fully automated,therefore some tasks are still performed by humans working alongsideheavy drilling machinery. The automated tool subsystems pose newchallenges for maintaining a safe workspace for personnel, where peopleand machines must share the same operating environment.

SUMMARY

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, acomputer-implemented method, computer system, and/or a computer programproduct is provided. In an aspect, the method may include receiving animage that was captured by an optical camera disposed to capture imagesof a drill rig floor, and conducting image analytics on the image toidentify a human within a predefined zone, the predefined zone beingassociated with a movable machine operable on the drill rig floor. Themethod may further include receiving a first signal from a time offlight (TOF) sensor or a light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensor,identifying that the human is within the predefined zone based on thefirst signal, and in response to the identification of the human withinthe predefined zone from the image analytics or the first signal,sending a second signal to an alert device such that the alert deviceissues an alert detectable from the predefined zone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application publication withcolor drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and paymentof the necessary fee.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting an example of a personnel safetysystem 105 applied within a hazardous environment, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram depicting an example of a personnelsafety system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 4A-B are flowcharts depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 6A-E are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 7A-B are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 8A-B are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an image depicting an example rendition of a personnel safetysystem applied to a hazardous environment with respect to a machine, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an image depicting an example rendition of a personnel safetysystem applied to a hazardous environment, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram depicting examples of an optical cameradevice, a TOF or LIDAR device, a wearable device, a remediation device,and/or a personnel safety device, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 12 depicts a cloud computing environment, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 13 depicts abstraction model layers, in accordance with anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Collision avoidance is a component of automated tool subsystems that canbe configured to mitigate or reduce the possibility of collision betweentools, machines, and/or people. These types of systems are known byvarious names, for example: anti-collision systems (ACS), collisionavoidance systems (CAS), zone management systems (ZMS). In some toolcollision avoidance applications, virtual and real world coordinatesystems are defined and correlated to provide virtual operatingenvironments, including, for example, environments corresponding tohazardous, real world environments, such as drill floor spaces, and/orthe like. In some instances, a bounding box surrounds a tool in virtualspace and establishes a volume occupied by the tool. The bounding boxmay also be axis-aligned, in which case the virtual space surroundingthe tool changes dynamically as the tool appendages extend, rotate,retract, raise, lower, etc. A proximity zone surrounds the bounding boxand defines a hazardous area around the tool. Some collision avoidancesystems can monitor tool positions and movement, and predict a locationor trajectory of a moving tool. Further, some collision avoidancesystems can override automated tool operations to prevent a virtualoverlap of the projected bounding boxes, which may correspond to areal-world tool collision.

Despite movement in various industries towards automated toolsubsystems, in many industries, personnel continue to be a necessarycomponent to various operations, particularly in conjunction with toolsand machines. In the drilling industry, for example, personnel such asdrill hands continue to be a necessary component of the drillingoperation. Drill floor personnel are a dynamic component of the drillingoperation that are not monitored by existing tool collision avoidancesystems. Collision avoidance, for example, between drill floor personneland automated tools depends on the situational awareness of the righands (i.e., drill floor personnel). The avoidance of an automated toolpresents an unnecessary distraction to a drill hand in an alreadyhazardous environment. And, to date, persons' individual positions onthe drill floor relative to equipment has not been considered outside ofprocedural control through the application of the restricted accessprinciple, and of the hierarchy of control that focuses on proceduralcontrol.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for systems and methods forcomputer vision-based collision avoidance and control of machines inmotion with respect to individual personnel, such as for use inhazardous environments, and the like. A hazardous environment mayinclude, for example, a cooperative human-machine workspace orenvironment such as a drill floor before, during, or after an occurrenceof a drilling operation in the environment. In some instances, it iscontemplated that the systems and methods can include and/or beimplemented in conjunction with devices such as wearable devices (e.g.,smart electronic devices that can be incorporated into clothing, gear(e.g. helmet), or otherwise worn on the body), machine sensors (e.g.,native machine sensor and/or instrumentation, or sensors added to themachines), and/or the like, in an effort to collect data such that themachines and personnel can be suitably monitored to avoid collisions.For example, the wearable devices can be configured to be worn by thepersonnel, and the machine sensors can be integrated into the machinesin motion for use in the monitoring and/or control of the machines inmotion with respect to the individual personnel, as described in furtherdetail herein.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems andmethods for and to improve personnel safety, in which imagingmodalities, wearables (e.g., wearable safety devices), and/or machinesensors are used to promote collision avoidance between personnel andmachines in motion based on communications and interoperationtherebetween. Such personnel safety systems may be implemented inhazardous environments including, for example, oil rigs, drill floors,drill rig floors, radioactive, contaminated, bio-hazardous environments,and/or the like, as described in further detail herein.

Advantageously, such personnel safety systems provide a solution for theaforementioned need in the art—that is, the need for a system and methodof collision avoidance control over one or more machines in motion withrespect to individual personnel. In particular, embodiments describedherein may be implemented to enable, facilitate, and supportproximity-based safety and authorization of personnel with respect tomovements or operations of the one or more machines in motion, such asfor use in hazardous environments, cooperative or same-spacehuman-machine industrial operations, and the like. To that end, theembodiments may be implemented to mitigate and reduce operational riskas well as to support and increase the efficiency and cost-effectivenessof cooperative, human-machine industrial operations and tasks, such asmay be performed in industry, as previously described. Other advantagesmay be readily apparent to those of skill in the art in view of thepresent disclosure.

For purposes of the present disclosure, a “machine in motion,” “movablemachine,” and the like, refers to any type of automation, machinery,and/or equipment used in industry. For example, in some cases a machinein motion may include an automated tool subsystem or automated machineryor equipment, such as in the form of a wholly or partially automateddrill, crane, gantry, pipe racker, iron roughneck, riser skate, pipeskate, stand building, pipe tripping, and/or any other type ofload-bearing equipment as such may be used in the industry. In any case,a machine in motion may include any type of automation orsemi-automation capable of causing physical harm or damage to a human,such as by collision.

For purposes of the present disclosure, “personnel” refers to one ormore people, persons, humans, or workers exposed to risk of collision orimpact with one or more machines in motion, such as in a hazardousenvironment, as previously described. For example, in some cases one ormore personnel may include drill floor personnel such as a drill hand.In other cases, one or more personnel may include, for example,emergency relief personnel and/or related first responders. In any case,personnel may include any type of entity exposed to risk of harm ordamage, such as by collision.

For purposes of the present disclosure, a “hazardous environment” refersto an environment, volume, space, or area in which a cooperative,human-machine industrial operation or task may be performed. In somecases, a hazardous environment may include one having poor, bad,unideal, or otherwise harsh environmental conditions. For example, aharsh environmental condition may be caused by exposure of theenvironment to extreme or severe weather, an occurrence of an explosionor smoke in the environment, hazardous materials, and the like. In anycase, a harsh environmental condition may include any environmentalcondition in the environment by which unsuitable operating conditionsmay be caused and occur in the environment. For example, during a firsttime period a hazardous environment may include harsh environmentalconditions (e.g. as in severe weather, etc.), and during a second timeperiod may not include harsh environmental conditions (e.g., as in calmweather, etc.). Accordingly, during the second time period, the harshenvironmental conditions may increase a risk of collision or impactbetween personnel and one or more machines in motion, such as by causingreduced visibility in the environment, and so on. In any case, ahazardous environment may include any type of environment or space thatmay be concurrently or simultaneously occupied or shared by personneland one or more machines in motion.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving first position datafrom a time of flight (TOF) sensor or a light detection and ranging(LIDAR) sensor. The first position data is representative of a positionof a human within a hazardous environment. The method further includesreceiving second position data associated with a plurality of wearablesensors associated with a plurality of personnel. The method furtherincludes comparing the first position data to the second position datato identify a match between the first position data and the secondposition data. A match is indicative that the human is authorized to bewithin the hazardous environment. The method further includes sending asignal to an alert device associated with the hazardous environment suchthat the alert device issues an alert in response to the first positiondata failing to match the second position data.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving position dataassociated with a wearable sensor (1) that is located within a hazardousenvironment, and (2) that is associated with a human. The method furtherincludes comparing the position data with a predefined zone within thehazardous environment. The predefined zone is defined based on motion ofa movable machine within the hazardous environment. The method furtherincludes sending a signal to an alert device such that the alert deviceissues an alert, in response to the comparison of the position data withthe predefined zone indicating that the position data falls within thepredefined zone.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an image that wascaptured by an optical camera disposed to capture images of a hazardousenvironment. The method further includes conducting image analytics onthe image to detect a human and a movable machine within the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes receiving first position datafrom a TOF sensor or a first LIDAR sensor. The first position data isrepresentative of a position of the human within the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes receiving second position datafrom (1) the first TOF sensor or a second TOF sensor, or (2) the firstLIDAR sensor or a second LIDAR sensor. The second position data isrepresentative of a position of the movable machine within the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes comparing the first positiondata with the second position data to produce a comparison identifier.The method further includes sensing a signal to an alert deviceassociated with the hazardous environment such that the alert deviceissues an alert in response to the comparison identifier meeting athreshold.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving first position datafrom a time of flight (TOF) sensor or a light detection and ranging(LIDAR) sensor. The first position data is representative of a positionof a human within a hazardous environment. The method further includesreceiving second position data associated with the human and from awearable sensor being worn by the human within the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes comparing the first positiondata to the second position data to identify a match between the firstposition data and the second position data. The method further includesreceiving third position data from a sensor operably coupled to amovable machine and representative of a location of the movable machinewithin the hazardous environment. The method further includes sending asignal to an alert device such that the alert device issues an alertbased on (1) the identified match between the first position data andthe second position data, and (2) the third position data.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an image that wascaptured by an optical camera disposed to capture images of a hazardousenvironment, and conducting image analytics on the image to detect ahuman within a predefined zone. The predefined zone is associated with amovable machine operable in the hazardous environment. The methodfurther includes receiving a first signal from a time of flight (TOF)sensor or a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor. The methodfurther includes detecting that the human is within the predefined zonebased on the first signal. The method further includes determining thatthe human is authorized to be within the predefined zone based on awearable identifier being worn by the human within the predefined zone.The method further includes receiving a second signal from the TOFsensor or the LIDAR sensor. The method further includes detecting thatthe human is within the predefined warning zone based on the secondsignal. The method further includes, in response to the detection thatthe human is within the predefined warning zone from the image analyticson the second image or the second signal, sending a third signal to awearable alert device that is being worn by the human such that thealert device issues an alert detectable by the human.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an image that wascaptured by an optical camera disposed to capture images of a hazardousenvironment. The method further includes conducting image analytics onthe image to detect a human within a predefined zone. The predefinedzone is associated with a movable machine operable in the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes receiving a first signal from atime of flight (TOF) sensor or a light detection and ranging (LIDAR)sensor. The method further includes detecting that the human is withinthe predefined zone based on the first signal. The method furtherincludes, in response to the detection of the human within thepredefined zone from the image analytics or the first signal, sending asecond signal to an alert device such that the alert device issues analert detectable from the predefined zone.

In some embodiments, a method includes receiving an image that wascaptured by an optical camera disposed to capture images of a hazardousenvironment. The method further includes conducting image analytics onthe image to detect a human within a predefined zone. The predefinedzone is associated with a movable machine operable in the hazardousenvironment. The method further includes detecting that the human iswithin the predefined zone based on the first signal. The method furtherincludes determining an identity of the human based on a wearableidentifier being worn by the human within the predefined zone. Themethod further includes, in response to determining based on theidentity that the human is not authorized to be within the predefinedzone, sending a second signal to an alert device such that the alertdevice issues an alert.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a personnel safety system 105applied to a hazardous environment 100, in accordance with anembodiment. As described in further detail herein, the personnel safetysystem 105 can be used to monitor the hazardous environment 100 and takeremedial action (e.g., issue alerts, alarms, or instructions topersonnel, and/or signals to control and/or shutdown machinery) whenappropriate. As shown, the hazardous environment 100 includes a definingboundary 101, an entry/exit 103, a machine 110, and a human 109. Thepersonnel safety system 105 includes a virtual defining boundary 107, afirst virtual zone 112, and a second virtual zone 114. As described infurther detail herein, the virtual defining boundary 107, the firstvirtual zone 112, and the second virtual zone 114 can be used toidentity locations within the hazardous environment 100 within whichintrusion detection (e.g., personnel crossing into one or more of thezones) is of interest (e.g., for safety and/or avoidance of potentialmachine and human collision). Such zones can be defined in any suitablemanner, having any suitable shape and/or size. As an example, in thisembodiment, the first virtual zone 112 and the second virtual zone 114are circumferentially and concentrically disposed about the machine 110,as shown. In other embodiments, the first virtual zone 112 and/or thesecond virtual zone 114 may be disposed, for example, partially aboutthe machine 110 or in any other suitable configuration in relation tothe machine 110 and/or components within the hazardous environment 100,as described in further detail herein. In some embodiments, for example,one or more virtual zones can be defined based on expected motion of themachine and/or personnel in connection with an operation. In suchembodiments, for example, if a machine is expected to move along alinear pathway, a virtual zone associated with that machine could berectangular and disposed about that linear pathway.

While FIG. 1 depicts the hazardous environment 100 as including only onedefining boundary, one machine, one entry/exit, and one human, in otherembodiments, any number of suitable boundaries, machines, entries/exits,and humans can be included. For example, in other embodiments, ahazardous environment may include two or more machines and/or two ormore humans. Similarly, although FIG. 1 depicts only two virtual zones,in other embodiments, a personnel safety system may include or defineany suitable number of virtual zones. For example, in some embodiments,three or more virtual zones may be used. As another example, in someembodiments, only one virtual zone may be used.

The hazardous environment 100 may include a three dimensional space orvolume delimited or defined by the defining boundary 101, and also, insome cases, the entry/exit 103. In some implementations, for example,the hazardous environment 100 may include a drill floor, pipe deck, orthe like, having a perimeter delimited or defined by the definingboundary 101. The machine 110 and the human 109 may be concurrentlylocated, positioned, or otherwise situated in the hazardous environment100 within the three dimensional space delimited by the definingboundary 101, such as during an industrial operation. For example, theindustrial operation may include a drilling operation, a riser-runningor riser-pulling operation, a stand-running operation, a pipe standingoperation, or the like. In general, the hazardous environment 100 mayinclude any environment in which personnel may be subject to danger,such as by exposure to risk of collision with one or more machines inmotion in the environment, as described herein. Further, the industrialoperation may include any human-machine industrial operation or task,such as may be performed in industry, in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

The defining boundary 101 may include a physical or virtual boundary. Insome implementations, the defining boundary 101 may include, forexample, a physical boundary such as a surface (e.g. of a floor, wall,ceiling, structure, etc.), a physical or digital demarcation such as avisible line or mark on a floor, or the like. In some implementations,the defining boundary 101 may additionally or alternatively include, forexample, a virtual boundary such as a digital demarcation (e.g. visiblyindicated by projection from a light source). Generally, the definingboundary 101 may include or implement any suitable type ofboundary—physical, virtual, or otherwise—in delimiting the hazardousenvironment (e.g. hazardous environment 100).

In some implementations, for example, the defining boundary 101 mayfunction as an authorization boundary or perimeter of the hazardousenvironment 100 beyond which authorized personnel may be permitted andunauthorized personnel may not. For example, the personnel safety system105 may monitor the hazardous environment 100 to determine whetherpersonnel are authorized to be present in the hazardous environment 100,and, where unauthorized personnel are determined to be present,subsequently perform a remedial action to reduce a risk of collision,such as by issuing an alert with respect to the unauthorized personneland/or a surrounding area in the hazardous environment 100, as describedin further detail herein. The entry/exit 103 may include, for example,an ingress, entryway, entrance, egress, exit, or the like (e.g. a dooror designated entry/exit).

As described in further detail herein, the first virtual zone 112 and/orthe second virtual zone 114 are both associated with and definedrelative to the machine 110, and represent volumes or areas adjacent toand/or within which contact between the machine 110 and the human 109 isof concern (e.g., an area within which machine and human contact ispossible, and/or an area within which an alert can be issued to preventthe human from entering an area within which machine and human contactis possible). For example, the first and second predefined zones 112 and114 may be respectively defined by one or more virtual volumes havingone or more breachable perimeters, so as to respectively defineproximities to the machine 110 that may be hazardous or dangerous. Insome implementations, for example, the first virtual zone 112 may defineand correspond to outer bounds of a warning zone (e.g., within whichthere may be a moderate risk of collision), and the second virtual zone114 may define and correspond to outer bounds of a danger zone (e.g.,within which there may be a high or higher (relative to warning zone)risk of collision). For example, the personnel safety system 105 may beconfigured to, upon a breach of the first virtual zone 112 and/or thesecond virtual zone 114, perform a remedial action such as issuing analert, and further, upon a breach of the second virtual zone 114,perform a remedial action such as slowing down, shutting off, and/orstopping an operation of the machine 110, or the like. The personnelsafety system 105 may execute and perform the remedial action by way ofa remediation device, as described in further detail herein.

The first and second virtual zones 112 and 114 can be defined in anysuitable manner that promotes safety within the hazardous environment100. Further, and as described in further detail herein, the first andsecond virtual zones 112 and 114 can be dynamic, i.e., the zones canchange or otherwise be modified at any suitable time based on variouscriteria (e.g., a particular person or class of persons, an operationalmode such as a maintenance or emergency situation, as well as others),as described in further detail herein. As shown in FIG. 1, for example,the first and second virtual zones 112 and 114 are defined with respectto the machine 110 so as to encompass the machine 110. In otherembodiments, for example, the first and/or second virtual zones 112 and114 may be defined so as to not encompass a portion and/or component ofthe machine 110 (e.g., a valve), such as during a maintenance operation,to facilitate associated maintenance of and operations on the machine110 (e.g., by facilitating repair or replacement of the valve).

In some implementations, for example, the first and second virtual zones112 and 114 may be defined as a function of one or more motion andmachine characteristics of the machine 110. The motion characteristicsmay include, for example, position, velocity, and/or acceleration of themachine 110, and/or any other spatially and/or temporally definingcharacteristic of the machine 110, as described herein. The machinecharacteristics may include, for example, type, shape (e.g.,dimensions), size (e.g., volume), application, and/or any othercharacteristic of the machine 110, as described in further detailherein. For example, in some implementations, the first and/or secondvirtual zones 112 and 114 may be defined (e.g., by a user or machine) soas to vary in shape and/or size based on a velocity and/or accelerationof the machine 110, such as to increase in size (e.g., volume) or varyin shape with respect to a position and/or direction of motion of themachine 110 (e.g., by increasing in size with increasing velocity and/oracceleration of the machine 110, etc.). In some implementations, thefirst and/or second virtual zones 112 and 114 may be defined withrespect to a shape and/or size (e.g., volume) of the machine 110, suchas to completely or otherwise encompass the machine 110 based ondimensions of the machine 110. In some implementations, the first and/orsecond virtual zones 112 and 114 may be defined as a function of one ormore environmental conditions (e.g., in hazardous environment 100), suchas to increase in size in reduced-visibility conditions (e.g., caused bysevere weather, an event in the environment such as an explosion, arelease of gas from a wellbore such as in drilling the wellbore, etc.)in the environment, and the like.

In some implementations, the first and/or second virtual zones 112 and114 may be defined so as to dynamically (i.e., in real time) vary incharacteristics (e.g., shape, size, etc.), for example, such as byincreasing in size with increasing velocity of a machine (e.g., machine110), changing in shape with changes in acceleration of the machine, andso on. In some implementations, the first and/or second virtual zones112 and 114 may be defined as a function of an operation or applicationof the machine 110. For example, for dangerous operations the firstand/or second virtual zones 112 and 114 may be configured to increase insize, accordingly. In some implementations, the first and/or secondvirtual zones 112 and 114 may be defined with respect to and/or includeone or more designated virtual safe zones (not depicted), such that abreach by the one or more safe zones does not cause an alert or otherremedial action to occur. For example, a safe zone may include anobservation post or a safe house located in hazardous environment 100.As another example, a safe zone may include an access pathway from anarea outside of or external to the first and/or second virtual zones 112and 114, through the first and/or second virtual zones 112 and 114, andextending to the machine 110. In this manner, for example, the human 109can follow along a particular access pathway (within the virtual safezone) without exercising a breach (results in a remedial action) of thefirst and/or second virtual zones 112 and 114.

In some implementations, for example, the first virtual zone 112 maydefine and be representative of outer bounds of a warning zone (e.g.,within which there may be a moderate risk of collision), and the secondvirtual zone 114 may define and be representative of outer bounds of adanger zone (e.g., within which there may be a high or higher (relativeto warning zone) risk of collision). The personnel safety system 105may, for example, be configured to, upon a breach of the first virtualzone 112, perform a remedial action such as issuing an alert, andfurther, upon a breach of the second virtual zone 114, perform aremedial action such as slowing down, shutting off, and/or stopping anoperation of the machine 110, or the like.

In some implementations, the personnel safety system 105 can optionallyinclude a zone within which personnel (or certain personnel inparticular, e.g., personnel not authorized to enter a particular zone)should not enter, regardless of the location or status of a movablemachine (this zone is referred to herein as a “no-go zone”, and shown inFIG. 1 as no-go zone 111). The no-go zone 111 can be functionally and/orstructurally similar to virtual zones 112 and/or 114, except that theno-go zone 111 represents an area within the hazardous environment andthat is independent from the movable machine. The no-go zone 111 may bedefined by one or more virtual volumes having one or more breachableperimeters corresponding to the volumes or areas of concern. In someimplementations, the no-go zone 111 may be associated with other zones,such as, for example, a warning zone (not shown, and similar in purposeto the first virtual zone 112), a danger zone (not shown, and similar inpurpose to the second virtual zone 114) and/or the like. In suchimplementations, for example, a remedial action (e.g., one or morealerts) can be issued in response to a person (or unauthorized person)breaching the warning zone, the danger zone, and/or the no-go zone 111itself, to prevent undesirable consequences of a no-go zone 111 breach.

The machine 110 may include one or more machines in motion, aspreviously described. For example, the machine 110 may include any typeof tool automation used in industry to facilitate an operation (e.g.,oil drilling operation). In some implementations, for example, themachine 110 may be characterized by one or more motion characteristicsand one or more machine characteristics. For example, the machine 110may be characterized in terms of type, shape, size, application, and/orany other characteristic suitable for enabling and supportingproximity-based safety of personnel with respect to motions of the oneor more machines in the environment. In some implementations, forexample, the machine 110 may include any suitable type of machinesensor, and/or the like, as described herein. The machine sensor can beconfigured to be integrated into the machines in motion for monitoringthe status, operation, location, speed, and other movement informationassociated with the machines in motion, and for use in the control ofthe machines in motion with respect to the individual personnel. Forexample, the machine sensor can include a device such as anidentification device (e.g., radio-frequency identification (RFID)), apositioning device (e.g., wireless positioning device, GPS device, ultrawide band technology, Bluetooth® technology, etc.)), and/or the like. Insome implementations, the machine sensor can be or include a wirelesspositioning device configured for communications at any suitablefrequency, range, or band, such as, for example, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5GHz, 6 GHz, 10 GHz, or the like, including any values therebetween.

The virtual defining boundary 107 may include, for example, a geo-fence,or the like. As described in further detail herein, the virtual definingboundary 107 may be defined relative to the defining boundary 101, andmay represent one or more outer bounds of the shared space of concern,to which the personnel safety system 105 may be applied with respect tothe machine 110 and the human 109. For example, the virtual definingboundary 107 may be defined, relative to the defining boundary 101, byone or more virtual volumes having one or more breachable perimeters orboundaries, so as to establish the boundaries of the shared space ofconcern for active monitoring and application of the personnel safetysystem 105. In some implementations, for example, the defining boundary107 may include or be implemented by way of a geofence. In someimplementations, for example, the defining boundary 107 may define andcorrespond to bounds of an active work zone, within which onlyauthorized personnel may be permitted. As an example, the personnelsafety system 105 may be configured to, upon a breach of the definingboundary 107 by unauthorized personnel, perform a remedial action suchas issuing an alert, as described in further detail herein. In someimplementations, the personnel safety system 105 may execute and performthe remedial action by way of a remediation device, as described infurther detail herein. In some implementations, the virtual definingboundary 107 may be defined (e.g. by a user) so as to vary in shape,size, or any other attribute, based on the particular operationperformed by, or an operational mode of the machine 110 in the hazardousenvironment 100. For example, the virtual defining boundary 107 may bedefined so as to increase or decrease in shape (e.g. volume) based on alevel of risk or danger in performing any particular operation.

The human 109 may include one or more personnel, as previouslydescribed. For example, the human 109 may include a person that, inconcurrently occupying the hazardous environment 100 with the machine110, may be subject to danger, such as by exposure to risk of collisionwith the machine 110. A level of awareness of the human 109, such aswith respect to one or more machines in motion (e.g. machine 110) in thehazardous environment 100, may be subject to variation such as based onthe task at hand, environmental conditions, and the like. Accordingly,the human 109 may be at-risk of collision with one or more of themachines in motion in the hazardous environment 100. In someimplementations, for example, the human 109 may be at-risk of acollision to an extent corresponding to a level of authorization of thehuman 109. For example, authorized personnel (e.g. human 109) in anenvironment (e.g. hazardous environment 100) may be subject to a lowerrisk of collision compared to unauthorized personnel in the environment.

In use, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the personnel safetysystem 105 may be implemented in various types of hazardousenvironments, such as in or on oil rigs, drill floors, oil rig floors,radioactive, contaminated, bio-hazardous environments, and/or any othertype of environment in which personnel may be exposed to risk ofcollision or impact with one or more machines in motion.

For example, the personnel safety system 105 may be configured todynamically determine a position, velocity, and/or acceleration (forsimplicity, collectively referred to herein as “motion”) of machine 110.In some implementations, the personnel safety system 105 is configuredto implement one or more positioning or locating techniques, including,for example, imaging, computer-vision, image analytics, ranging, and/orthe like, as described in further detail herein. Further, the personnelsafety system 105 may, in some cases, dynamically determine motion ofhuman 109 by implementing various positioning techniques and/oridentification techniques, such as automatic identification and datacapture (AIDC), and the like.

In some embodiments, existing or native monitoring or sensing systemscan be used to determine motion of machine 110. Existing systems caninclude machine-to-machine communication systems, including, forexample, OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), which is a machine tomachine communication protocol. Accordingly, for example, data capturedin connection with such communication protocol can be used to determinelocation and/or motion of machine 110 for purposes of comparing thatmotion to human 109 to determine whether or not any remedial action isrequired to prevent a collision, as described in further detail herein.The location and/or motion information from such systems, in someinstances, can be analyzed in connection with additional sensors, e.g.,machine sensor 237, as introduced below) to compare with a position ofthe human to determine whether or not any remedial action shouldtranspire.

As described in further detail herein, in some cases, for example, thepersonnel safety system 105 may dynamically associate one or more zones(e.g., first and second virtual zones 112 and 114) with the machine 110to, and in response to detecting a breach of one or more of the zones,cause the personnel safety system 105 to perform one or more remedialactions, as described in further detail herein. The zones, for example,can be continually or periodically redefined (changed in size, shape, orlocation within the hazardous environment 100) based on motion of themachine 110. Subsequent to the dynamic determinations of the respectivemotions, the personnel safety system 105 may perform a remedial actionto support the proximity-based safety of the personnel with respect tomotion of the machine 110, such as by issuing an alert to thosepersonnel at-risk of collision, controlling a motion of the machine(e.g., stopping the machine, slowing the machine, changing a directionof movement of the machine, etc.) so as to avoid collision withpersonnel, and the like. Further, the personnel safety system 105 maydetermine whether personnel are authorized to be present in thehazardous environments, and, where unauthorized personnel are determinedto be present, subsequently perform a remedial action such as issuing analert to the unauthorized personnel and/or other parties of interest, asdescribed in further detail herein.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram depicting an example of a personnelsafety system 205, in accordance with an embodiment. The personnelsafety system 205 can be the same as or similar to, and can function thesame as or similar to the personnel safety system 105. In thisembodiment, the personnel safety system 205 includes a machine sensor,an optical camera device 210, a TOF or LIDAR device 220, and a wearabledevice 230, all of which are interconnected over a network 202 to apersonnel safety management device 260. In some embodiments, thepersonnel safety system 205 can optionally include a database device(not shown), which can be interconnected to or otherwise operable inconjunction with the personnel safety management device 260, (e.g., viacommunications over network 202, and/or via communications over apathway distinct from the network 202) While FIG. 2 depicts thepersonnel safety system 205 as including are certain number of discretedevices, other arrangements may be contemplated. For example, thepersonnel safety system 205 may include one or more instances of themachine sensor 237, the optical camera device 210, the TOF or LIDARdevice 220, the wearable device 230, and/or the personnel safety device260 that may be individually formed by one or more integrated ordistinct devices. Further, in some embodiments, a personnel safetysystem can include and utilize data generated by both a TOF device and aLIDAR device.

The personnel safety system 205 may be implemented in or with respect toa hazardous environment (e.g., hazardous environment 100), as such maybe, for example, concurrently occupied by one or more personnel (e.g.,human 109) and one or more machines in motion (e.g., machine 110).

In various implementations, the network 202 may include, for example, anintranet, a local area network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), awireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network(WPAN), a wireless mesh network, a wide area network (WAN) such as theInternet, or the like. The network 202 may include wired, wireless, orfiber optic connections. Generally, network 202 may include anycombination of connections and protocols for supporting communicationsbetween the machine sensor 237, the optical camera device 210, the TOFor LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and the personnel safetymanagement device 260, in accordance with the present disclosure.

In various implementations, the machine sensor 237, the optical cameradevice 210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and/orthe personnel safety management device 260, may include a computingplatform or node such as a mobile or smart phone, a tablet computer, alaptop computer, a desktop computer, a server, a virtual machine, awearable device, an implantable device, or the like. In the variousimplementations, machine sensor 237, the optical camera device 210, theTOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and/or the personnelsafety device 260 may otherwise include any other type of computingplatform, computer system, or information system capable of sending andreceiving data to and from another device, such as by way of the network202.

In some implementations, the machine sensor 237, the optical cameradevice 210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and/orthe personnel safety device 260 may include internal and externalhardware components, such as described with reference to FIG. 11. Inother implementations, the machine sensor 237, the optical camera device210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and/or thepersonnel safety device 260 may be implemented in or by way of a cloudcomputing environment, such as described with reference to FIGS. 12 and13.

In some implementations, for example, the optical camera device 210 (or“OC”) may include, for example, a complimentarymetal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor such as a camera, a videorecorder, an infrared camera, or any other suitable image sensor, imagecapture device, photodetector, or the like, in accordance with thepresent disclosure. In some implementations, for example, the opticalcamera device 210 may be disposed in or with respect to a hazardousenvironment (e.g., hazardous environment 100), to capture images of thehazardous environment (e.g. a drill rig floor, etc.) with respect to oneor more machines in motion (e.g. machine 110) so as to enable andsupport proximity-based personnel safety with respect to the motions ofthe machines. In some implementations, for example, a captured image mayinclude image data corresponding to a two-dimensional (2D) image, athree-dimensional (3D) image, and the like. The optical camera device210 may be implemented to capture the images of the hazardousenvironment with respect to one or more machines in motion in theenvironment, and further, one or more personnel in the environment. Thecaptured image may include any suitable type of image to which digitalimage processing and/or machine learning can be applied. Imageprocessing, for example, can include one or more of image analytics,facial-recognition, object-recognition, identity recognition, etc.)

In some implementations, the machine learning may implement or otherwiseinclude, for example, a neural network such as a convolutional neuralnetwork (CNN). As an example, such a CNN may be applied to a capturedimage to, upon image processing thereof, extract or otherwise recover a3D reconstruction of a hazardous environment (e.g., hazardousenvironment 100), to thereby increase accuracy and reliability ofdeterminations of positions, velocities, and/or accelerations of one ormore machines in motion with respect to individual personnel in thehazardous environment. In some implementations, the neural network maybe trained to recognize personnel (e.g., human 109) in the hazardousenvironment based on one or more corresponding images captured of thepersonnel.

The neural network may be trained, for example, by way of supervisedlearning based on one or more labeled training sets, such as may bestored on memory 261, a database (not shown), and/or other suitablelocations accessible by the personnel safety management device 260. Sucha training set may include, for example, a variety of images ofindividual personnel having associated labels, such as corresponding toidentity, level of authorization, permissions, and the like. In someimplementations, the variety of images may include, for example, labeledimages associated with particular personnel having varying levels ofvisibility or clarity. Accordingly, the supervised training of the CNNmay increase the accuracy and reliability of the determinations withrespect to the varying levels of visibility or clarity of the images tothereby increase the robustness of the determinations. Advantageously,with the CNN's learning-based recognition of the locations and movementsof the personnel and the machines in motion can be respectivelydetermined with a high degree of accuracy and reliability.

In some implementations, the CNN can be trained to determine or estimatethe location of the human (e.g., human 109) with respect to the machine(e.g., machine 110) in the hazardous environment (e.g., hazardousenvironment 100) based on the images captured by the optical cameradevice 210. The optical camera device 210, for example, may be disposedin or about the hazardous environment to capture the images.Accordingly, the accuracy and reliability of determinations as to thelocation of the human may be increased. In some implementations, forexample, the CNN can be trained to determine a likelihood of aparticular trajectory of the machine throughout the hazardousenvironment based on the captured images. For example, the CNN may beapplied to image data corresponding to the captured images for use inconjunction with a computer vision technique.

In various implementations, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 may include, forexample, a scannerless device that can illuminate an entire scene ofinterest (e.g., a region of the hazardous environment 100) with lightemitted from a laser source in the TOF or LIDAR device 220, and thenreceive the reflected light for processing to determine and/or estimatelocations and/or movements of one or more machines in motion. In someimplementations, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 receives and measuresreflections of its own emitted light; as such, the TOF or LIDAR device220 is at least substantially immune to effects of external lightsources such as ambient light. Based on the reflected light, and inparticular based on phase and/or travel time information in thereflected light when compared to the transmitted light, in someimplementations, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 can extract athree-dimensional (“3D”) point cloud of the scene of interest, whichallows for the at least substantially accurate determination and/orestimation of each of the positions of the one or more machines inmotion, and/or each of the personnel in the hazardous environment.Accordingly, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 may be implemented to enableand support accurate determination of the positions of the one or moremachines in motion, and each of the personnel in the hazardousenvironment.

In various implementations, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 can be used toscan the hazardous environment, and in particular, can be used to scaneach machine in motion and each personnel with pulsed light waves andreceive the reflected pulses which allow for greater accuracy andreliability of location and position determinations (e.g., a 1D pointcloud of the objects illuminated with the pulsed light waves, aone-dimensional (“1D”) point cloud being a collection of pointsrepresenting the 1D coordinates of the objects (and hence outliningshapes or features of the objects)). For example, the pulsed light waves130 a may be a laser, including laser having wavelength in the rangefrom about 500 nm to about 1600 nm, wavelengths of about 532 nm, about905 nm, about 1064 nm, about 1550 nm, etc., including values andsubranges therebetween.

In some implementations, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 can scan thehazardous environment in any direction, so as to scan around and/orbeyond objects (e.g., such as the door 103) in which case the LIDAR willreceive and/or sense waves reflected from the door 103, or any othersurface of the environment).

As an example, the time period between the LIDAR's light transmissionand receipt of one or more waves reflected from a first object (e.g.,the machine 110, the human 109, etc.) will be different from the timeperiod between the LIDAR's light transmission and receipt of one or morewaves reflected from an object other than the first object. Thisdifference in time can be used to determine individual positions of eachobject in the environment. In this example, for instance, an arrivaltime for a reflection from a first transmitted wave that is greater thanan arrival time for a reflection from a second transmitted wave as theLIDAR scans upward may indicate that the first object is orientedtowards the LIDAR. Accordingly, an analysis of the 1D point cloud canprovide higher accuracy in determining a position of the first object.

In some implementations, positions, velocities, and/or accelerations ofone or more machines in motion and/or one or more personnel in thehazardous environment may be determined by analysis of data generated bythe optical camera device 210 and/or the TOF or LIDAR device 220.Accordingly, data from multiple sources can be compared to improvereliability of the determinations, such as by comparison of thedetermined positions (e.g., coordinates) by the optical camera device210 and the TOF or LIDAR device 220.

In some implementations, the wearable device 230 may include, forexample, a wearable sensor and/or transceiver device. In someimplementations, the wearable device 230 may be configured to issue avisual, audible, and/or tactile stimulus, or otherwise provide an alertthat is perceivable by personnel (e.g., human 109). For example, thewearable device 230 may be configured to issue an alert to the human 109by way of a transducer and/or actuator.

In some implementations, the wearable device 230 may include at leasttwo alerting modalities (e.g. visual and audible, audible and tactile,tactile and visual, etc.) by which to issue alerts. Alternatively, insome embodiments, the wearable device 230 may include at least threealerting modalities (e.g. visual, audible, and tactile) by which toissue the alerts. Issuance of the alert by way of at least two alertingmodalities may provide redundancy and increase reliability, and further,may increase the effectiveness of communicated alerts to personnel inhazardous environments, such as in harsh environmental conditions orduring performance of an industrial operation, when one of the alertingmodalities may not be perceived due to the conditions, or otherwise, bywhich personnel may be less susceptible to perceiving any particularmodality.

In addition to issuing alerts, the wearable device 230 can be configuredfor personnel identification, authorization, and/or position tracking.For example, the wearable device 230 may include, a short-rangecommunication device, a medium-range communication device, an RFIDdevice, a positioning device (e.g., wireless positioning device, GPSdevice, ultra wide band technology, Bluetooth® technology, etc.), and/orthe like, that can provide data or coordinates of the wearable device230 within the hazardous environment, which can then be used forlocating and tracking of the personnel wearing the wearable device 230.As described in further detail herein, position data generated by thewearable device 230 can be compared with position data generated byother sensors, such as the TOF and/or LIDAR sensor 220, to identify amatch between the position data coming from each source. Such a matchcan provide a sufficient level of confidence that the position data fromeach source is accurate.

The wearable device 230 is configured to be worn by personnel (e.g.,human 109), such as by attachment to safety or protective clothing,apparel, or gear (“safety gear”). For example, the safety gear mayinclude a hardhat, a reflective vest, a hazardous materials (HAZMAT)suit or garment, or any other protective piece of cloth, fabric, ormaterial, in accordance with the present disclosure. The wearable device230 may be attached to or otherwise integral with the safety gear, suchas by a connecting and/or locking mechanism (e.g., a double lockingmechanism), adhesive, magnetic force, and/or the like. In general, thesafety gear may include any garment, apparel, or wearable materialsuitable for use in hazardous environments and under hazardous ordangerous conditions. In some cases, the safety gear worn by personnelmay reduce a level of awareness (e.g., mobility, vision, hearing, etc.).Accordingly, in some implementations, at least two alerting modalitiesmay be used to provide redundancy and increase reliability, and further,may increase the effectiveness of communicated alerts to personnelencumbered by awareness-reducing safety gear. Issuing an audible alertwith a visual alert, for example, may increase the chances that thepersonnel properly and timely perceives at least one of the alerts.

In some implementations, the machine sensor 237 may include any suitabletype of sensor or transducer, or transceiver device, receiver device,transmitter device, and/or the like. The machine sensor 237 isconfigured to generate data corresponding to position and/or motion themachine to which it is operably coupled, e.g., for use in predicting andpreventing collisions between the machine and personnel, as described infurther detail herein. The data generated by the machine sensor 237, forexample, can be representative of a position of the machine to which themachine sensor 237 is operably coupled within the hazardous environment,and that position can be used to define virtual zones (as described infurther detail herein), and to compare with position and/or trackingdata associated with personnel, to identify a potential collision. Themachine sensor 237 can be operably coupled to the machine in anysuitable manner.

In some implementations, the machine sensor 237 may be configured toissue an alert. For example, the machine sensor 237 may include atransducer, actuator, and/or any other suitable component capable ofissuing an alert (e.g., an audible and/or visual alert) that isperceivable by personnel at or near the machine to which the machinesensor 237 is operably coupled. In some implementations, the machinesensor 237 may include at least two alerting modalities (e.g. visual andaudible, audible and tactile, tactile and visual, etc.) by which toissue alerts. In the various embodiments, the machine sensor mayalternatively include at least three alerting modalities (e.g. visual,audible, and tactile) by which to issue the alerts, similar to asdescribed herein with reference to the wearable device 230. In someimplementations, the machine sensor 237 includes a short or medium rangecommunication device, an RFID device, a positioning device (e.g.,wireless positioning device, GPS device, ultra wide band technology,Bluetooth® technology, etc.), and/or the like, to enable machineidentification, position, and/or motion tracking.

In some implementations, the personnel safety system 205 can beconfigured to obtain position and/or motion data associated with amachine (e.g., machine 110) from sources other than the machine sensor237. Such sources can include, for example, native or existingmonitoring or sensing systems associated with machine, includingmachine-to-machine communication systems (e.g., OPC Unified Architecture(OPC UA). In some implementations, data from the machine sensor and datafrom the other sources (such as OPC UA) can be compared for to verifyand provide assurance that the data from each source is accurate. Inother implementations, the data from such sources other than the machinesensor 237 may be sufficient (i.e., without the machine sensor 237 data)to sufficiently identify the position and/or motion of the machine.

As shown in FIG. 2, the personnel safety management device 260 includesor hosts a memory 261, a processor 262, and a communication component268. The personnel safety management device 260 may include anapplication or program such as a web or Internet-based application, asoftware program, one or more subroutines contained in a program, anapplication programming interface, or the like. The personnel safetymanagement device 260 may implement a combination of devices andtechnologies such as network devices and device drivers to support theoperation of the memory 261, processor 262, and communication component268, and provide a platform enabling communications between the machinesensor 237, the optical camera device 210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220,the wearable device 230, and the personnel safety management device 260.The personnel safety management device 260 can be configured toconcurrently monitor activities of machines (e.g., machine 110) withrespect to personnel (e.g., human 110) in a hazardous environments(e.g., hazardous environment 100).

In various implementations, the personnel safety management device 260may implement one or more of the machine sensor 237, optical cameradevice 210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, and/or the wearable device 230,to, for example, generate data for subsequent communication withprocessor 262. In the various implementations, the generated data may becommunicated for processing to the personnel safety management device260 to determine a position, location, and/or motion informationassociated with personnel (e.g., human 109) and one or more machines(e.g., machine 110) in a hazardous environment (e.g., hazardousenvironment 100).

The memory 261 may include a computer readable storage medium, asdescribed in further detail herein. As shown in FIG. 2, the processor262 includes or hosts an image processing component 263, anidentification component 264, a position determination component 265, azoning component 266, and a remediation component 267. The imageprocessing component 263 may be implemented to perform image processingor analytics, as described herein. The identification component 264 maybe implemented to identify individual personnel (e.g., human 109) in ahazardous environment (e.g., hazardous environment 100), as describedherein. The position determination component 265 may be implemented todetermine positions of one or more machines in motion, and personnelconcurrently situated in a hazardous environment, as described herein.The zoning component 266 may be implemented to define the virtual zones(e.g., virtual zones 107, 111, 112, 114), and assign, and/or associateone or more of the virtual zones with one or more machines (e.g.,machine 110), as described in further detail herein. The remediationcomponent 267 is configured to issues alerts, perform remedial actions,or otherwise cause remedial actions to be performed. The remediationcomponent 267, for example, can trigger alerts at the wearable device230 and/or the machine sensor 227, as described in further detailherein. The communication component 268 is configured to send andreceive data, to and from each of the memory 261, the processor 262, and(via the network 202) the machine sensor 237, the optical camera device210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230.

In some implementations, the zoning component 266 can be configured toreceive input such as user input including instructions to define orvary parameters of any of the virtual zones (e.g., virtual zones 112,114, and/or 111). For example, the input can include user inputcorresponding to instructions for defining or redefining the shape, size(e.g., volume, perimeter, etc.), application or functionality (e.g.,warning zone, danger zone, safe zone, machine-proximity zone, etc.), ofthe virtual zones. With reference to the first virtual zone 112, forexample, the zoning component 266 can be configured (e.g., by anoperator) to redefine one or more parameters of the first virtual zone112 to change its functionality from that of a warning zone to that of adanger zone. As another example, the zoning component 266 can beconfigured to define the first virtual zone 112 and/or the secondvirtual zone 114 as a function of one or more of the motioncharacteristics and/or one or more machine characteristics, aspreviously described. In some implementations, for example, the firstand/or second virtual zones 112 and 114 may be configured as a functionof a role or seniority of the personnel such that the first and/orsecond virtual zones 112, 114 can be defined in a first manner for afirst job type or person and in a second manner (e.g., having adifferent size and/or shape, etc.) for a second job type or person. Inthis manner, it can be ensured that the proper personnel are able toaccess the appropriate equipment, whereas other personnel are not.

In some implementations, the remediation component 267 can be configuredto perform a remedial action based on any of the parameters defined atzoning component 266 and/or otherwise associated with any of themonitored equipment, personnel, zones, etc.). For example, theremediation component 267 can be configured to perform a remedial actionin response to detecting or determining an overlap or imminent overlapin the location or motion of personnel such as the human 109, and thatof the machine 110 or the first and/or second virtual zones 112 and 114,as described herein.

In some instances, the remediation component 267 can be configured toperform remedial actions such as generating an alert corresponding to adanger or a risk of collision with a machine in motion. That is, theremedial action may include generating the alert based on the extent ormagnitude of the associated danger or risk of collision with the machinein motion and can be tailored to such level of danger, accordingly. Forexample, in some instances, the remedial action may be a slight hapticvibration when a position of personnel poses a small degree of risk ofcollision to the personnel. As another example, in other instances, theremedial action may be or include any suitable stimuli, such ascombination of sirens, lights, etc., such as when risk of a collisionbetween the personnel and the machine 110 is imminent.

In some implementations, the remediation component 267 can be configuredto generate and send remediation data corresponding to an alert to beissued, a tool or machine control command or instruction to be executedto control machine operations including controlling or stopping motionor operations of the machine 110, and the like. In some implementationsthe remediation data can be sent to the wearable device 230 for issuanceof the alert thereat. For example, in such instances, the remediationcomponent 267 can be configured to send a signal to the wearable device230 (e.g., via the communication component 268) to cause the wearabledevice 230 to issue the alert. In some implementations, the alert can beor include, for example, at least one of a visual alert, an audiblealert, and/or a haptic alert. For example, the visual alert can includeflashing lights, the audible alert can include an audible tone, and thehaptic alert can include a vibration or force-feedback. In someimplementations, the alert can be or include at least two of a visualalert, an audible alert, and/or a haptic alert. In some implementations,the alert can be or include all three of a visual alert, and audiblealert, and a haptic alert.

In some implementations, the remediation component 267 can be configuredto issue alerts such as in the form of a visual alert and an audiblealert to personnel (e.g., to human 109) based on the location of thepersonnel in the hazardous environment 100, and a location of any of thezones described herein (e.g., virtual zone 112, virtual zone 114). Forexample, the remediation component 267 can be configured to issue analert upon in response to detecting a breach of the first zone 112 bythe human 109, as shown in FIG. 1. As another example, the remediationcomponent 267 can be configured to control or stop motion or anoperation of the machine 110 upon in response to detecting a breach ofthe second zone 114 by the human 109, as shown in FIG. 1, and/or issuean alert.

Although shown and described as TOF or LIDAR device 220, in someembodiments, a personnel safety system may include one or more TOFdevices, and/or one or more LIDAR devices. In embodiments having both aTOF device and a LIDAR device, the personnel safety system can use datagenerated by the TOF device and data generated by the LIDAR device toperform the various safety actions described herein. In someimplementations, for example, the data generated by the TOF device canbe compared to the data generated by the LIDAR device to identify amatch between the data, thereby providing redundancy to operation.

In use, for example, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 can capture or generateposition data representative of a position of a human within a hazardousenvironment, and send the position data via the network 202 to thepersonnel safety management device 260. Further, the wearable sensor 230being worn by the human can capture or generate position datarepresentative of the human within the hazardous environment, and sendthe position data via the network 202 to the personnel safety managementdevice 260. The personnel safety management device 260 (or the positiondetermination component 265 of the personnel safety management device260) can then compare the position data from the TOF or LIDAR device 220to the position data from the wearable sensor 230 to identify a match,thereby providing a sufficient degree of confidence that the position ofthe human has been accurately identified.

Further, the machine sensor 237 operably coupled to a machine (e.g., inproximity to the human) can capture or generate position datarepresentative of the machine within the hazardous environment, and sendvia the network 202 the position data to the personnel safety managementdevice 260. The personnel safety management device 260 can then comparethe position data from the machine sensor with the data from the TOF orLIDAR device 220 and/or the data from the wearable device 230 todetermine a distance between the human and the machine. In someinstances, if for example the distance meets a predetermined threshold,and/or it is determined that the human has crossed into a particularvirtual zone (e.g., associated with the machine), the personnel safetymanagement device 260 (or the remediation component 267) can send asignal to the wearable device 230 such that the wearable device 230issues one or more alerts. Additionally, or alternatively, the personnelsafety management device 260 can send a signal to the machine to stop oralter the machine's movement or operation. In some embodiments, thepersonnel safety management device 260 can compare the position datafrom the machine sensor with the data from the wearable device 230 (andnot the position data from the TOF or LIDAR device 220) to determinewhether or not an alert or signal to stop or alter a machine should beissued. In this manner, the TOF or LIDAR device 220 is used simply toconfirm the accuracy of the position data generated by the wearablesensor 237, after which the effectively verified wearable sensor 237 canbe used in conjunction with the data captured or generated by themachine sensor 237 to determine if and when remediation measures shouldbe taken.

In some embodiments, in addition to the previous example, the opticalcamera device 210 can be used to capture or generate image dataassociated with the human in the hazardous environment, and send thatimage data to the personnel safety management device 260 via the network202. The image processing component 263 of the personnel safetymanagement device 260 can then conduct image analytics on the image datato detect a location of the human (e.g., relative to a machine orvirtual zone such as a warning or danger zone), and/or to detect oridentify an identity of the human (e.g., to determine with the human isauthorized to be in that zone).

As an example implementation of the personnel safety system 205, in someinstances, the TOF/LIDAR device 220 can capture position datarepresentative of a position of a human within the hazardousenvironment, and send that position data via the network 202 to thepersonnel safety management device 260. The personnel safety managementdevice 260 can then compare the position data received from theTOF/LIDAR device 220 with a position data captured by a plurality ofwearable devices 230 (e.g., in some instances, only the wearable devicesthat are indicated as being active at that time within the hazardousenvironment) to detect whether or not the position of the humanidentified by the TOF/LIDAR device 220 matches any of the positions ofthe wearable devices 230. A match can indicate that the human identifiedby the TOF/LIDAR device 220 is authorized to be in the hazardousenvironment and/or at that identified position. A lack of a match canindicate that the human identified by the TOF/LIDAR device 220 is notauthorized to be in the hazardous environment, e.g., perhaps the humanis not wearing a wearable device, which is why no match could beidentified.

In some instances, the personnel safety management device 260 cancompare the position data received from the TOF/LIDAR device 220 withposition data captured by only the wearable devices 230 that areauthorized to be in the zone or position identified by the TOF/LIDARdevice 220. In this manner, a failure to match indicate that the humanis not wearing a wearable device, or is wearing a wearable device but isnot authorized to be in that particular location, position, zone, etc.If it is identified that the human is not authorized to be in theposition identified by the TOF/LIDAR device 220, the personnel safetymanagement device 260 can send a signal to one or more alert devicesassociated with the hazardous environment such that the alert deviceissues an alert. The one or more alert devices could include, forexample, an alert device common to the hazardous environment, an alertdevice attached and/or assigned to the wearable device 230, an alertdevice attached and/or assigned to a human associated with the wearabledevice 230, an alert device associated with an operator (e.g., anoperator of a drill rig floor), and/or the like.

In some instances, the machine sensor 237 can capture and send motionand/or position data of the movable machine to which it is attached tothe personnel safety management device 260 via the network. If, asdiscussed immediately above, the human is determined to be authorized,the personnel safety management device 260 can compare the position datacaptured by the wearable device 230 with the position data captured bythe machine sensor 237 to identify a relationship therebetween. As anexample, the comparison could result in identifying a distance betweenthe human and the machine. As another example, the comparison couldresult in identifying a trajectory of each the human and/or the machine,and thereby identify an expected location or time of collision. Therelationship could be compared to a predefined threshold, such as, forexample, an unsafe distance between human and machine, an unsafetrajectory of the human relative to a trajectory of the machine, anunsafe time period before the human and/or machine could collide, etc.,and if the relationship meets such a predefined threshold, the personnelsafety management device 260 can send a signal to an alert device (e.g.,an alert device being worn by the human) such that the alert deviceissues an alert.

In some instances, e.g., before capturing, sending, and/or analyzing theposition data captured by the TOF/LIDAR device 220, the optical cameradevice 210 can capture an image of the hazardous environment, and sendthat image to the personnel safety management device 260. The personnelsafety management device 260 can then conduct image analytics on theimage to identify the human within the hazardous environment (in otherembodiments, the image analytics could be conducted elsewhere, e.g., atthe optical camera device 210 or at a remote server). In some instances,detection of the human by the image analytics can trigger capturing ofthe position data representative of the position of the human by theTOF/LIDAR device 220 and/or analysis of the position data representativeof the position of the human.

In some instances, the personnel safety management device 260 cancompare position data captured and provided by the wearable device 230with a predefined zone (e.g., a safe zone, a no-go zone, a watch zone, awarning zone, etc.) within the hazardous environment, and if aparticular zone is breached (e.g., the position data falls within thepredefined zone), the personnel safety management device 260 can send asignal to an alert device (e.g., an alert device attachable to or beingworn by the human). The personnel safety management device 260 cancontinually, periodically, etc. receive additional position data fromthe wearable device 230, and compare that additional position data tothe predefined zone, and if, for example, the additional position datadoes not fall within the predefined zone, the personnel safetymanagement device 260 can send a signal to the alert device such thatthe alert device stops issues the alert.

In some instances, as described in further detail herein, multiplepredefined zones may exist, and alerts can vary among such predefinedzones. If, for example, a first predefined zone (e.g., an outerboundary) and a second predefined (e.g., an inner boundary) are assignedto a hazardous environment, and it is detected that the position datacaptured by the wearable device 230 falls within the first predefinedzone, but not the second predefined zone, a first alert can be issued(e.g., an alert can be issued by an alert device worn by the human).Further, for example, if it is detected that the position data capturedby the wearable device 230 falls within the second predefined zone, asecond alert (or multiple second alerts) can be issued (e.g., one ormore alerts can be issued by an alert device worn by the human and/or amachine associated with the second predefined zone), one or more alertscan be issued to an operator of the hazardous environment, etc.).Further, in some instances, a signal can be sent such that motion of amachine associated with the second predefined zone can be altered (e.g.,slowed, re-routed, stopped, etc.).

Further, in instances in which the first and second predefined zones areassociated with and/or defined based on a particular movable machine, insome cases, the first and second predefined zones can be dynamic, asdescribed in further detail herein. In such instances, for example, thezones can be continually (e.g., in real-time), or periodically redefinedas the movable machine moves and based on a position, orientation,configuration, velocity, acceleration, status, trajectory, and/or thelike of the movable machine. For instance, a movable machine moving at arelatively fast speed may contribute to a relatively large zone, while amovable machine moving at a relatively slow speed may contribute to arelatively smaller zone, as the amount of time required by personnel tomove away from a potential collision with the movable machine maydecease with increased speed of the movable machine.

As yet a further example, if a potential collision is detected, inaddition to sending signals to issue alerts and alter movement of themovable machine involved in the potential collision, the personnelsafety management device 260 can identify other movable machinesassociated to the movable machine involved in the potential collision,and can send signals to one or more of those other movable machines toalter their course, e.g., to prevent operational issues that could occurwhen one machine in an assembly of machines alters course.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system (e.g., similar to or the same as any of thepersonnel safety systems disclosed herein), in accordance with anembodiment.

At Step S302, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268, an image from animage capture device or optical camera, such as the optical cameradevice 210 (e.g. by way of the network 102) as such may be captured bythe optical camera device 210 with respect to a hazardous environmentsuch as a drill rig floor.

At Step S304, the personnel safety management device 260 may conduct,such as by way of the image processing component 263 resident on theprocessor 262, image analytics on the image to identify a human (e.g.human 109) within a virtual zone, where the virtual zone may beassociated with a movable machine (e.g. machine 110) operable in thehazardous environment such as on the drill rig floor. As previouslydescribed herein, the virtual zone may otherwise include or beassociated with one or more virtual or designated safe zones, no-gozones, and/or the like.

At Step S306, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268, a first signal from aTOF sensor or a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor (e.g. TOF orLIDAR device 220).

At Step S308, the personnel safety management device 260 may identify,detect, and/or determine, such as by way of the image processingcomponent 263, the identification component 264, the positiondetermination component 265, and/or the zoning component 266 residing onthe processor 262, that the human is within the virtual zone based onthe first signal.

At Step S310, the personnel safety management device 260 may determine,such as by way of the image processing component 263 the positiondetermination component 265, and/or the zoning component 266 residing onthe processor 262, whether or not the identified human is located withinthe virtual zone. The determination may be made based on the conductedimage analytics on the image, such as at Step S304. Subsequently, if itis determined that the identified human is not located within thevirtual zone, the method may proceed back to Step S302. In anembodiment, if it is determined that the identified human is locatedwithin the virtual zone, the method may proceed to Step S312. In someimplementations, the determination as to whether or not the identifiedhuman is located within the virtual zone can include determining anidentity of the human based on (e.g., identifying signals and/or datareceived from) a wearable identifier being worn by the human within thepredefined zone.

At Step S312, the personnel safety management device 260 may send, suchas by way of the communication component 268, a second signal to analert device (e.g. wearable device 230) such that the alert deviceissues an alert detectable from the virtual zone. In an embodiment, thedetectable alert may include, for example, a readily perceivablestimulus, such as by personnel (e.g. human 109) in a hazardousenvironment (e.g. hazardous environment 100), as described herein. Insome implementations, the alert is or can be or include, for example, atleast two of a visual alert, an audible alert, or a haptic alert.

In some implementations, the image from the optical camera device 210(e.g., received at S302) is or can be or include a first image.Moreover, the first image and the first signal from the TOF or LIDARsensor (e.g., received at S306) can be received during a first timeperiod. Further, the second signal can be sent during the first timeperiod.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 mayreceive, during a second time period after the first time period, asecond image that was captured by the optical camera. In suchembodiments, the personnel safety management device 260 may conduct,during the second time period, image analytics on the second image todetect that the human is not located within the predefined zone.Moreover, the personnel safety management device 260 may send a thirdsignal to the alert device such that the alert device stops issuing thealert in response to the detection that the human is not located withinthe predefined zone.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 mayreceive, during the second time period after the first time period, athird signal from the TOF sensor or the LIDAR sensor. In suchembodiments, the personnel safety management device 260 may beconfigured to detect, during the second time period, that the human isnot located within the predefined zone. Moreover, the personnel safetymanagement device 260 may send a third signal to the alert device suchthat the alert device stops issuing the alert in response to thedetection that the human is not located within the predefined zone.

In some implementations, a personnel safety system (e.g., personnelsafety system 205) can be configured to cross-verify a position ofpersonnel (e.g., the human 109). For example, in such implementations,the personnel safety system can be configured to receive position data,including, for example, position data from the TOF sensor or the LIDARsensor, as well as position data from a wearable device on thepersonnel, such as the wearable device 230. In such implementations, thepersonnel safety system can be configured to cross-verify the positionof the personnel based on the position data from the TOF sensor or theLIDAR sensor, as well as the position data from the wearable device.Advantageously, such implementations of the personnel safety system arecapable of distinguishing between personnel located in proximity in theenvironment, and can be implemented as a redundant measure for the sakeof reliability in the position tracking determinations provided byvarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-B are flowcharts depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system (e.g., similar to or the same as any of thepersonnel safety systems disclosed herein), in accordance with anembodiment.

At Step S402, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268 over the network 202,a first image that was captured by an optical camera disposed to captureimages of a hazardous environment such as a drill rig floor, and/or thelike.

At step S404, the personnel safety management device 260 may conduct,such as by way of the image processing component 263 resident on theprocessor 262, image analytics on the first image to identify a humanwithin a virtual zone. In an embodiment, the virtual zone may beassociated with a movable machine operable on the drill rig floor, amachine in motion in a hazardous environment, and the like. Each virtualzone may be defined by the zoning component 266.

At step S406, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268 over the network 202,a first signal from a TOF or LIDAR sensor (e.g., TOF or LIDAR device220). In some implementations, the first signal can include, forexample, a signal corresponding to a first set of data, including, forexample, first position data. The first position data can be or includedata representative of or corresponding to a position of one or moremachines in motion and/or one or more humans in the hazardousenvironment, as described herein. For example, the first position datacan include data representative of or corresponding to coordinates(e.g., 1D coordinates, 2D coordinates, 3D coordinates), including, forexample, a first set of coordinates associated with a position of one ormore objects, including, for example, one or more of the machines inmotion and/or one or more of the humans in the hazardous environment. Insome implementations, the first set of coordinates can include, forexample, a 1D point cloud, a 2D point cloud, a 3D point cloud, and/orthe like, as described herein. Accordingly, the first position data canbe, include (e.g., data corresponding to), or be representative ofcoordinates of the objects in three dimensions. The coordinates can bedefined with respect to any suitable type of frame of reference, inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. At step S408, thepersonnel safety management device 260 may identify and/or determine,such as by way of the image processing component 263, the identificationcomponent 264, the position determination component 265, and/or thezoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, that the human iswithin the virtual zone based on the first signal.

At step S410, the personnel safety management device 260 may determine,such as by way of the image processing component 263, the identificationcomponent 264, the position determination component 265, and/or thezoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, whether or not thehuman is authorized to be within the virtual zone based on a wearableidentifier (e.g., the wearable device 230) being worn by the humanwithin the virtual zone. For example, in some implementations, thepersonnel safety management device 260 may be configured to receive,from a wearable identifier (e.g., the wearable device 230), identifyinginformation or data associated with the human, and further, to determinethe authorization of the human (e.g., in a virtual zone) based on theidentifying data. In some implementations, in response to adetermination that the human is not authorized to be within the virtualzone based on the received data from the wearable identifier, thepersonnel safety management device 260 may send an alert, such asdescribed with reference to step S422.

At step 412, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268 over the network 202,a second image that was captured by the optical camera.

At step S414, the personnel safety management device 260 may conduct,such as by way of the image processing component 263 resident on theprocessor 262, image analytics on the second image to detect that thehuman is within a virtual warning zone (e.g., virtual zone 114) that iswithin the virtual zone (e.g., virtual zone 112).

At step S416, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268 over the network 202,a second signal from the TOF sensor or the LIDAR sensor (e.g., TOF orLIDAR device 220). In some implementations, the second signal caninclude, for example, a signal corresponding to a second set of data,including, for example, second position data. The second position datacan be or include data representative of or corresponding to a positionof one or more machines in motion and/or one or more humans in thehazardous environment, as described herein. For example, the secondposition data can include data representative of or corresponding tocoordinates (e.g., 1D coordinates, 2D coordinates, 3D coordinates),including, for example, a second set of coordinates associated with aposition of one or more objects, including, for example, one or more ofthe machines in motion and/or one or more of the humans in the hazardousenvironment. In some implementations, the second set of coordinates caninclude, for example, a 1D point cloud, a 2D point cloud, a 3D pointcloud, and/or the like, as described herein. Accordingly, the secondposition data can be, include (e.g., data corresponding to), or berepresentative of coordinates of the objects in three dimensions. Thecoordinates can be defined with respect to any suitable type of frame ofreference, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

At step S418, the personnel safety management device 260 may identifyand/or determine, such as by way of the image processing component 263,the identification component 264, the position determination component265, and/or the zoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, thatthe human is within the virtual warning zone based on the second signal.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, at Step S420, the personnel safety managementdevice 260 may determine, such as by way of the image processingcomponent 263 the position determination component 265, and/or thezoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, whether theidentified human is located within the virtual zone. The determinationmay be made based on the conducted image analytics on the second imageand/or the second signal, such as at Step S414. Subsequently, if it isdetermined that the identified human is not located within the virtualzone, the method may proceed back to Step S402. Otherwise, if it isdetermined that the identified human is located within the virtual zone,the method may proceed to Step S422.

At step S422, the personnel safety management device 260 may send, suchas by way of the communication component 268, a third signal to awearable alert device (e.g., wearable device 230) that is being worn bythe human such that the alert device issues an alert detectable by thehuman. For example, the wearable alert device can be worn by or on thehuman in the hazardous environment. In some implementations, the alertcan include, for example, at least two of a visual alert, an audiblealert, or a haptic alert.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 canbe configured to compare the first position data to the second positiondata in determining whether the human is within the virtual zone. Forexample, in some embodiments, determining that the that the human iswithin the virtual zone based on the first signal (e.g., as in S408) anddetermining that the human is within the virtual zone based on thesecond signal (e.g., as in S418) can include, for example, comparing thefirst position data to the second position data to identify a matchbetween the first position data and the second position data. Forexample, the match can be identified in response to determining that thefirst position data and the second position data represent or correspondto a similar or substantially coinciding or identical coordinate and/orposition, in which the distance between such coordinate(s) and/orposition(s) that falls below or exceeds a predetermined threshold.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 mayreceive, such as by way of the communication component 268 over thenetwork 202, a third signal from a sensor operably coupled to a movablemachine (e.g., from one or more of the machines in motion in thehazardous environment) and representative of a location of the movablemachine within the hazardous environment. In some implementations, thethird signal can include, for example, a signal corresponding to a thirdset of data, including, for example, third position data. The thirdposition data can be or include data representative of or correspondingto a position of a movable machine (to which the sensor is operablycoupled) from one or more of the machines in motion in the hazardousenvironment, as described herein. For example, the sensor can be orinclude, for example, an RFID device, a wireless position or positioningdevice, an ultra wide band technology, Bluetooth® technology, and/or thelike. The sensor can otherwise be or include any other suitable type ofsensor, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 caninclude, for example, a set of sensors including discrete sensorsoperably coupled to one or more movable machines in the hazardousenvironment. In such implementations, the personnel safety managementdevice 260 may receive signals (e.g., such as or similar to the thirdsignal) from the set of sensors, and further, may be configured todetermine or cross-check a reliability or accuracy of positions,velocities, and/or accelerations (“locations” or “movements”) of one ormore of the machines in motion in the hazardous environment.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 maysend, such as by way of the communication component 268, a signal to analert device such that the alert device issues an alert based on (1) theidentified match between the first position data and the second positiondata, and (2) the third position data. For example, the alert device canbe or include a wearable device (e.g., the wearable device 230), and/orthe like, as described here. In some implementations, the personnelsafety management device 260 may send the signal to the alert devicesuch that the alert device issues the alert based on (1) the identifiedmatch between the first position data and the second position data, (2)the third position data, and (3) the second position data.

In some implementations, the personnel safety management device 260 maycompare the second position data to the third position data to produce acomparison identifier. In such implementations, the personnel safetymanagement device 260 may send the signal based on or in response to adetermination that the comparison identifier meets a predeterminedthreshold, or otherwise exceeds or falls below the predeterminedthreshold, and/or the like.

For example, the predetermined threshold can be configured or defined tocorrespond to a minimum limit or threshold distance (e.g., a safedistance) and/or a minimum limit or threshold rate of change of thedistance (e.g., a safe velocity and/or a safe acceleration) between thehuman and the movable machine. In some implementations, the comparisonidentifier can be representative of a distance (e.g., a minimum safedistance, etc.) between the human and the movable machine. Accordingly,the personnel safety management device 260 may send the signal such thatthe wearable alert device issues the alert (e.g., as in step S422) basedon or in response to the comparison identifier meeting or falling belowthe predetermined threshold.

As another example, the predetermined threshold can be configured ordefined to correspond to a minimum limit or threshold duration or amountof time (e.g., a safe time). In some implementations, the comparisonidentifier can be representative of a duration or amount of timeremaining (e.g., a countdown) before the beginning of an operation to beexecuted by the movable machine in a region or area (e.g., in thehazardous environment 100). Accordingly, in some instances, thepersonnel safety management device 260 may send the signal such that thewearable alert device issues the alert (e.g., as in step S422) based onor in response to the comparison identifier meeting or falling below thepredetermined threshold. In some implementations, such as in otherinstances, the personnel safety management device 260 may send thesignal such that the wearable alert device does not issue the alert(e.g., as in step S422) based on or in response to the comparisonidentifier exceeding the predetermined threshold.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting operational steps of an aspect of apersonnel safety system (e.g., similar to or the same as any of thepersonnel safety systems disclosed herein), in accordance with anembodiment.

At step S502, the personnel safety management device 260 may receive,such as by way of the communication component 268 over the network 202,an image that was captured by an image capture device such as an opticalcamera disposed to capture images of a hazardous environment such as adrill rig floor. At step S504, the personnel safety management device260 may conduct, such as by way of the image processing component 263resident on the processor 262, image analytics on the image to identifya human within a virtual zone, where the virtual zone is associated witha movable machine operable on the drill rig floor. At step S506, thepersonnel safety management device 260 may receive, such as by way ofthe communication component 268 over the network 202, a first signalfrom a TOF or LIDAR sensor (e.g. TOF or LIDAR device 220). At step S508,the personnel safety management device 260 may identify and/ordetermine, such as by way of the image processing component 263, theidentification component 264, the position determination component 265,and/or the zoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, that thehuman is within the virtual zone based on the first signal.

At step S510, the personnel safety management device 260 may determine,such as by way of the image processing component 263 and/or theidentification component 264 resident on the processor 262, an identityof the human based on a wearable identifier being worn by the humanwithin the virtual zone.

At step S512, the personnel safety management device 260 may determine,such as by way of the image processing component 263, the identificationcomponent 264, the position determination component 265, and/or thezoning component 266 residing on the processor 262, whether the human isauthorized to be within the virtual zone. In an embodiment, if it isdetermined that the human is not authorized to be within the virtualzone, the method may proceed to Step S512. Subsequently, if it isdetermined that the human is authorized to be within the virtual zone,the method may proceed back to Step S502. Otherwise, the method mayproceed to Step S514, at which point the Personnel Safety System maysend, such as by way of the communication component 268, a second signalto an alert device (e.g. wearable device 230) such that the alert deviceissues an alert. In some implementations, the alert can be or include,for example, at least two of a visual alert, an audible alert, or ahaptic alert.

FIGS. 6A-E are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system 605, inaccordance with an embodiment. As shown, the personnel safety system 605may be applied in a hazardous environment 605 with respect to humans609A-C (e.g. personnel), a defining boundary 601, an entry/exit 603, anda defining boundary 607. As shown, the personnel safety system 605 maybe implemented in accounting of positions of individual people relativeto machines in a hazardous environment 600. For example, FIGS. 6A-Edepict identification of human 609C, determination of non-authorizedstatus in the hazardous environment 600, and issuance of an alarm ornotification by which the human 609C may proceed back to safety (e.g.back over the defining boundary 601).

FIGS. 7A-B are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system 705, inaccordance with an embodiment. Personnel safety system 705 can be thesame as or similar to, and function the same as or similar to, any ofthe personnel safety systems described herein (e.g., personnel safetysystem 105, 205, etc.). As shown, the operational steps may includedetecting an occurrence of a “warning zone breach” of first virtual zone712 by human 709, as shown in FIG. 7B. The personnel safety system 705may, in response to detecting the breach, perform a remediation actionsuch as by issuing a visual, auditory, and/or tactile alert with respectto the breach, as described in other embodiments.

FIGS. 8A-B are images collectively depicting an example rendition ofoperational steps of an aspect of a personnel safety system 805, inaccordance with an embodiment. Personnel safety system 805 may be thesame as or similar to, and function the same as or similar to, any ofthe personnel safety systems described herein (e.g., personnel safetysystem 105, 205, 705, etc.). As shown, the operational steps may includedetecting an occurrence of a “machine shut off zone breach.” The machineshut off zone breach may also be referred to as a “danger zone breach.”Accordingly, upon breach of the danger zone 814, the personnel safetysystem 805 may perform a remedial action, including, for example,automatic shut off equipment (e.g., shutdown machine 810) relative toboth un-authorized personnel and location.

In an embodiment, the personnel safety system may be implemented toidentify non-authorized personnel on the Drill Floor and ensure onlythose strictly required for the operation can be present; issue apersonal alarm when an outer warning boundary is breached; and when aninner danger boundary is breached, sound an area alarm and stopequipment. These additional safeguards are intended to further reducethe risks associated in drilling activities to as low as reasonablypracticable.

FIG. 9 is an image depicting an example rendition of a personnel safetysystem 905 applied to a hazardous environment 900 with respect to amachine 910, in accordance with an embodiment. Personnel safety system905 may be the same as or similar to, and function the same as orsimilar to, any of the personnel safety systems described herein (e.g.,personnel safety system 105, 205, 705, 805, etc.). As shown, the machine910 may be encompassed by an inner danger zone 914 and an outer warningzone 912. The machine 910 may be a machine in motion such as describedherein.

In some implementations, the inner danger zone 914 may be a virtual zonesuch as the first virtual zone 112 and the outer warning zone 912 may bea virtual zone such as the second virtual zone 114, as previouslydescribed. The inner danger zone 914 and the outer warning zone 912 mayeach be associated with and defined relative to the machine 910, andrepresent zones adjacent to and/or within which contact between themachine 910 and a human (e.g. human 109) is of concern. For example, theinner danger zone 914 and the outer warning zone 912 may be respectivelydefined by one or more virtual volumes having one or more breachableperimeters corresponding to proximities to the machine 910 that may behazardous or dangerous. In some implementations, for example, the outerwarning zone 912 may define and correspond to outer bounds of a warningzone (e.g. within which there may be a moderate risk of collision withmachine 910), and the inner danger zone 914 may define and correspond toouter bounds of a danger zone (e.g. within which there may be a high orhigher risk of collision with machine 910 relative to that in thewarning zone).

In some implementations, the inner danger zone 914 and the outer warningzone 912 may be individually and respectively defined to encompass themachine 910 as a function of one or more motion and/or machinecharacteristics of the machine 910, as described herein. In someimplementations, the inner danger zone 914 and/or the outer warning zone912 may be defined to dynamically vary in characteristics so as todynamically encompass the machine 910, as described herein. Generally,the inner danger zone 914 and the outer warning zone 912 may otherwisebe defined in any suitable manner that promotes safety within thehazardous environment 900, as described herein.

FIG. 10 is an image depicting an example rendition of a personnel safetysystem 1005 applied to a hazardous environment 1000, in accordance withan embodiment. The personnel safety system 1005 may be concurrentlyapplied to multiple machines in motion (e.g. machines in motion1010A-B), and multiple personnel (e.g. humans 1009A-B). As shown, themachines in motion 1010A-B may be encompassed by an inner danger zone(e.g. virtual zone 114, 1014A-B) and an outer warning zone (e.g. virtualzone 112, 1012A-B), as previously described. Further, each virtual zonemay encompass a respective machine in motion based on one or moremachine characteristics and/or one or more motion characteristics, aspreviously described. For example, the machine 1010A may be associatedwith and encompassed by three-dimensional rectangular volumes 1012A and1014A, as shown. Further, each virtual zone may include one or more safezones, as previously described. In general, the personnel safety system1005 may be applied to any type of hazardous environment, as describedherein. In some implementations, the personnel safety system 1005 can beconfigured to additionally or alternatively define one or more no-gozones (not shown) such as no-go zone 111, as shown and described hereinwith reference to FIG. 1.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

The presently disclosed invention may be a system, a method, and/or acomputer program product at any possible technical detail level ofintegration. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe embodiments of the present disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the presently disclosed invention are described herein withreference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods,apparatus (systems), and computer program products according toembodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block ofthe flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

For example, FIG. 11 is a block diagram depicting examples of theoptical camera device 210, the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearabledevice 230, and/or the personnel safety management device 260, inaccordance with an embodiment. As shown, the optical camera device 210,the TOF or LIDAR device 220, the wearable device 230, and/or thepersonnel safety management device 260 (“collectively referred to hereinas “personnel safety system components”) may include one or moreprocessors 22, one or more computer-readable RAMs 24, one or morecomputer-readable ROMs 26, one or more computer readable storage media,one or more device drivers 24, a read/write drive or interface 25, anetwork adapter or interface 29, all interconnected over acommunications fabric 26. The network adapter 29 communicates with anetwork 30 (e.g. network 202). Communications fabric 23 may beimplemented with any architecture designed for passing data and/orcontrol information between processors (such as microprocessors,communications and network processors, etc.), system memory, peripheraldevices, and any other hardware components within a system.

One or more operating systems 26, and one or more application programs27, such as may be hosted by the processor 262, as shown in FIG. 2, arestored on one or more of the computer readable storage media forexecution by one or more of the processors 22 via one or more of therespective RAMs 24 (which typically include cache memory). In theillustrated embodiment, each of the computer readable storage media maybe a magnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive, CD-ROM,DVD, memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, asemiconductor storage device such as RAM, ROM, EPROM, flash memory orany other computer-readable tangible storage device that can store acomputer program and digital information.

One or more of the personnel safety system components may also include aR/W drive or interface 25 to read from and write to one or more portablecomputer readable storage media 31. Application programs 27 on clientdevice 110 and/or contract audit management device 130 may be stored onone or more of the portable computer readable storage media 926, readvia the respective R/W drive or interface 25 and loaded into therespective computer readable storage media 908. One or more of thepersonnel safety system components may also include a network adapter orinterface 29, such as a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/InternetProtocol (IP) adapter card or wireless communication adapter (such as a4G wireless communication adapter using Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (OFDMA) technology). Application programs 27 may bedownloaded to the computing device from an external computer or externalstorage device via a network (for example, the Internet, a local areanetwork or other wide area network or wireless network) and networkadapter or interface 916. From the network adapter or interface 29, theprograms may be loaded onto computer readable storage media. The networkmay comprise copper wires, optical fibers, wireless transmission,routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. Oneor more of the personnel safety system components may also include adisplay screen 34, a keyboard or keypad 33, and a computer mouse ortouchpad 32. Device drivers 24 interface to display screen 34 forimaging, to keyboard or keypad 33, to computer mouse or touchpad 32,and/or to display screen 34 for pressure or capacitive sensing ofalphanumeric character entry and user selections. The device drivers 24,R/W drive or interface 25 and network adapter or interface 25 mayinclude hardware and software (e.g. stored on computer readable storagemedia and/or ROM 26).

One or more of the personnel safety system components can be implementedvia a standalone network server, or represent functionality integratedinto one or more network systems. In certain embodiments, one or more ofthe personnel safety system components represents computer systemsutilizing clustered computers and components to act as a single pool ofseamless resources when accessed through a network, such as a LAN, WAN,or a combination of the two. This implementation may be preferred fordata centers and for cloud computing applications. In general, one ormore of the personnel safety system components can be any programmableelectronic device, or can be any combination of such devices.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

It is to be understood that although this disclosure includes a detaileddescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present disclosure are capable of being implementedin conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows: on-demand self-service: a cloud consumercan unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server timeand network storage, as needed automatically without requiring humaninteraction with the service's provider; broad network access:capabilities are available over a network and accessed through standardmechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick clientplatforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs); resource pooling:the provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multipleconsumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical andvirtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter); rapid elasticity:capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some casesautomatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quicklyscale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioningoften appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at anytime; and measured service: cloud systems automatically control andoptimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some levelof abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure that includes anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 12, illustrative a cloud computing environment 50is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 includes one ormore cloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 12 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 13, a set of functional abstraction layers (as maybe provided by cloud computing environment 50) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 13 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and software components60A-H. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 60A; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 60B;servers 60C; blade servers 60D; storage components 60E, and networkscomponents 60F. In some embodiments, software components include networkapplication server software 60G and database software 60H.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may include applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; personnel safety and collision avoidancesystem 96. Personnel safety and collision avoidance system 96 mayinclude functionality enabling the cloud computing environment toperform and/or to carry out aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein forpurposes of describing and illustrating claimed structures and methodsthat may be embodied in various forms, and are not intended to beexhaustive in any way, or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the one or more embodiments, practical applications, ortechnical improvements over current technologies, or to enable those ofordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosedherein. As described, details of well-known features and techniques maybe omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” or the like, indicate that the embodimentdescribed may include one or more particular features, structures, orcharacteristics, but it should be appreciated that such particularfeatures, structures, or characteristics may or may not be common toeach and every disclosed embodiment of the present as disclosed herein.Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to any one particularembodiment per se. As such, when one or more particular features,structures, or characteristics is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of thoseskilled in the art to affect such one or more features, structures, orcharacteristics in connection with one or more other embodiments, whereapplicable, whether explicitly described, or not.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

Detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein forpurposes of describing and illustrating claimed structures and methodsthat may be embodied in various forms, and are not intended to beexhaustive in any way, or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the one or more embodiments, practical applications, ortechnical improvements over current technologies, or to enable those ofordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosedherein. As described, details of well-known features and techniques maybe omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” or the like, indicate that the embodimentdescribed may include one or more particular features, structures, orcharacteristics, but it should be appreciated that such particularfeatures, structures, or characteristics may or may not be common toeach and every disclosed embodiment of the presently disclosed inventionherein. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to any oneparticular embodiment per se. As such, when one or more particularfeatures, structures, or characteristics is described in connection withan embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of thoseskilled in the art to affect such one or more features, structures, orcharacteristics in connection with one or more other embodiments, whereapplicable, whether explicitly described, or not.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

While the presently disclosed invention has been shown and describedwith reference to certain exemplary or example embodiments thereof, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes inform and details may be made therein without departing from the spiritand scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claimsand their equivalents. Therefore, the present disclosure has beendisclosed by way of example for purposes of illustration, and notlimitation.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory processor-readable mediumstoring code representing instructions to be executed by a processor,the code comprising code to cause the processor to: receive firstposition data from a ranging sensor, the first position data beingrepresentative of a position of a human within a hazardous environment;receive second position data associated with a plurality of wearablesensors associated with a plurality of personnel; compare the firstposition data to the second position data to identify a match betweenthe first position data and the second position data, the matchindicating that the human is authorized to be within the hazardousenvironment; and send a signal to an alert device associated with thehazardous environment such that the alert device issues an alert inresponse to the first position data failing to match the second positiondata.
 2. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1,wherein the signal is a first signal, the alert device is a first alertdevice, and the alert is a first alert, the code further comprising codeto cause the processor to: receive third position data from a sensoroperably coupled to a movable machine and representative of a locationof the movable machine within the hazardous environment; in response todetermining that the human is authorized to be within the hazardousenvironment based on a match between the first position and the secondposition, compare the second position data to the third position data toidentify a relationship between the first position data to the thirdposition data; and send a second signal to a second alert device beingworn by the human such that the second alert device issues a secondalert in response to the relationship meeting a predefined threshold. 3.The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, the codefurther comprising code to cause the processor to: receive an image thatwas captured by an optical camera disposed to capture images of thehazardous environment; conduct image analytics on the image to detectthe human within the hazardous environment; the code to cause theprocessor to receive the first position data includes code to cause theprocessor to receive the first position data in response to thedetection of the human within the hazardous environment.
 4. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the signalis a first signal, the alert device is a first alert device, and thealert is a first alert, the code further comprising code to cause theprocessor to: after identifying a match between the first position dataand the second position data, compare the second position data with apredefined zone within the hazardous environment; and send a secondsignal to at least one of the first alert device or a second alertdevice such that the at least one of the first alert device or thesecond alert device issues a second alert, in response to the comparisonof the second position data with the predefined zone indicating that thesecond position data falls within the predefined zone.
 5. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 4, the code furthercomprising code to cause the processor to: receive third position datafrom the wearable sensor after receiving the first position data fromthe wearable sensor; compare the third position data with the predefinedzone; and send a third signal, after sending the second signal, to theat least one of the first alert device or the second alert device suchthat the at least one of the first alert device or the second alertdevice stops issuing the second alert, in response to the comparison ofthe third position data with the predefined zone indicating that thethird position data does not fall within the predefined zone.
 6. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the secondalert is at least two of a visual alert, an audible alert, or a hapticalert.
 7. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 4,wherein the predefined zone is a first predefined zone, the code furthercomprising code to cause the processor to: compare the second positiondata with a second predefined zone that is at least partially disposedwithin the first predefined zone, the second predefined zone beingdefined based on the position of the movable machine; send a thirdsignal to at least one of the first alert device or a third alert devicesuch that the at least one first alert device or third alert deviceissues a third alert, in response to the comparison of the secondposition data with the second predefined zone indicating that the secondposition data falls within the second predefined zone.
 8. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 7, wherein at leastone of the first predefined zone or the second predefined zone includesa safe zone disposed therein.
 9. The non-transitory processor-readablemedium of claim 4, wherein the predefined zone is a first predefinedzone, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:compare the second position data with a second predefined zone that isat least partially disposed within the first predefined zone, the secondpredefined zone being defined based on the position of the movablemachine; send a third signal such that movement of the movable machineis altered, in response to the comparison of the second position datawith the second predefined zone indicating that the second position datafalls within the second predefined zone.
 10. The non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the movable machine is afirst movable machine, the code further comprising code to cause theprocessor to: send a fourth signal such that movement of a secondmovable machine is altered based on its configured interaction with thefirst movable machine.
 11. The non-transitory processor-readable mediumof claim 1, wherein the signal is a first signal, the alert device is afirst alert device, and the alert is a first alert, the code furthercomprising code to cause the processor to: after identifying a matchbetween the first position data and the second position data, comparethe second position data with a predefined zone within the hazardousenvironment, the predefined zone being defined based on a position of amovable machine; send a second signal to a second alert device beingworn by the human such that the second alert device issues a secondalert, in response to the comparison of the second position data withthe predefined zone indicating that the second position data fallswithin the predefined zone.
 12. The non-transitory processor-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the first position data includes coordinatesin three dimensions and the second position data includes coordinates inthree dimensions.
 13. The non-transitory processor-readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein the alert is at least one of a visual alert, an audiblealert, or a haptic alert.
 14. The non-transitory processor-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the signal is a first signal, the alertdevice is a first alert device, and the alert is a first alert, the codefurther comprising code to cause the processor to: after identifying amatch between the first position data and the second position data,compare the second position data with a predefined zone within thehazardous environment, and; send a second signal to at least one of thefirst alert device or a second alert device such that the at least oneof the first alert device or the second alert device issues a secondalert, in response to the (1) comparison of the second position datawith the predefined zone indicating that the second position data fallswithin the predefined zone, and (2) detection that the human is notauthorized to be within the predefined zone based on an identifierassociated with the wearable sensor.
 15. A non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to beexecuted by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processorto: receive an image that was captured by an optical camera disposed tocapture images of a hazardous environment; conduct image analytics onthe image to detect a human and a movable machine within the hazardousenvironment; receive first position data from a first ranging sensor,the first position data being representative of a position of the humanwithin the hazardous environment; receive second position data from (1)the first ranging sensor or a second ranging sensor, the second positiondata being representative of a position of the movable machine withinthe hazardous environment; compare the first position data with thesecond position data to produce a comparison identifier; send a signalto an alert device associated with the hazardous environment such thatthe alert device issues an alert in response to the comparisonidentifier meeting a threshold.
 16. The non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the comparison identifieris representative of a distance between the human and the movablemachine based on the first position data and the second position data.17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, whereinthe comparison identifier is based on or representative of a velocity ora trajectory of the movable machine.
 18. The non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the alert device is awearable alert device being worn by the human, and the alert is at leastone of a visual alert, an audible alert, or a haptic alert.
 19. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the rangingsensor is a time of flight (TOF) sensor or a light detection ranging(LIDAR) sensor.
 20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the code to cause the processor to receive firstposition data includes code to cause the processor to receive firstposition data from a first time of flight (TOF) sensor or a first lightdetection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor, the code to cause the processor toreceive the second position data includes code to cause the processor toreceive the second position data from (1) the first TOF sensor or asecond time of flight (TOF) sensor, or (2) the first LIDAR sensor or asecond light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor.